Fast.

A tad on the large size. Large diameter = shadow with built-in flash.

Fast focusing, no complaints about picture quality. Reasonable range for outdoor use. I'll buy a zoom lens (70-200?) and my needs will be covered. The lens is LARGE though! When used on my Canon 10D and shooting with the built in flash only, the large diameter of the lens actually casts a shadow(!) so external flash must be used.

Similar Products Used:

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Built, sharpness, color, clear, give good details, min. focus to 30 cm., weight, price,

82 mm filter size. and a bit fat.

This 20-40 F2.8 DG did give me great impression from the first roll of film I took. The pictures came out much better than I had expected. Pictures came out sharp, clear in color, with details. I think for about the same price as Nikon 18-35 F3.5-45 ED, this Sigma 20-40 gives uncomparable results for what you pay. The only think that gave me hesitating when buying this lens was its filter size of 82mm. since most of my lens uses 77 mm filter size. The built is firm, the weight is not too heavy, and the look is nice. So I would just conclude that there is no complains for me about this lens. By the way, its focal lenght from 20-40 mm is very flexible to go out door, perhaps with another 80-200 mm F2.8 is enough. i definitely will sell away my old Tokina 19-35 F3.5-4.5

Customer Service

Non

Similar Products Used:

Nikon 24-85 F2.8-4 D macro Nikon 105 F2.8 micro Nikon 80-200ED F2.8 D w/Collar Tokina 28-70 F2.6 ProII Tokina 19-35 F3.5-4.5

Exccelent performance on resolution, distortion and flare control. Solid build. Nice feel on both zoom and focus ring.

82mm filter size?? Manual focus switch mechanism. Compability problem.

I am sigma fun, so I got this one soon after it debuted. The construction is solid. Big and not very heavy considering its size. My lens has a small dot on the front glass when it first came out from the box(coating peeled off??). Sigma definitely needs to enhance their quality control. I use it on EOS D30, so make test is quick and free, though I may have no idea about the edge performance due to the 1.6x multiplier. Sharpness wide open at 20, 24 and 28 is really impressive. At 35mm, wide open is little soft but stop down to f4 will be fine. 40mm is a kind of in between. Overall resolution performance is excellent. There is slight distortion at 20mm. Beyond 24mm, it will take you great effort to find any hint of ditrotion at all. Flare control is not bad especially for a wide zoom. Since all my tests were done on a digi SLR with 1.6x multiplier. My conclusion is based on the part of image it uses. The story may be very different on film body when taking into account of the edges. The Dual focus mechanism is the one thing I do not like. One must switch the focus mode button first and then pull the focus ring to make the manual focus gear engaged. I always feel I am going to damage the lens when doing this. The other thing is the 82mm filter thread. Almost all my other lenses are of 77mm, which looks like a standard for this lens category. 82mm filter is expensive and hard to get. While if look at the lens thread, it is easy to make it 77mm instead. Is sigma really that scared of viganetting? The last thing one need to consider before buying a sigma lens is the imcompability problem. It works for currently available bodies, but there is no guarranty for future ones. Fortunatley, sigma is very helpful on this issue and their customer service(USA) is first class(based on my 4 times experience). They can fix the imcompability problem for free. Bottom line: A decent typical sigma EX lens(great value but not problem free). Perhaps the best among their wide angle zooms.

Customer Service

Excellent, though it is very possible that you need one in the future(imcompatibility??).

Similar Products Used:

Canon 20-35 f3.5/4.5, sigma 24 f1.8 EX, sigma 14 f2.8 EX.